HE is well known and highly placed, but his right-hand man has been under investigation for aiding and abetting Cosa Nostra. Now he himself is to be put in the dock for taking a kickback and" embezzling vast sums of EU taxpayers' money.
Nothing out of the ordinary in scandal-ridden Italy, except that Dr Salvatore Cassisa is 74 years of age - and a Catholic archbishop. His diocese, of Monreale, is the biggest on Sicily. His trial is due to begin today.
The events which have landed Dr Cassisa in court go back to the 1970s, when it was discovered that termites had attacked the wooden interior of Monreale's cathedral, one of the most important Norman churches on the island.
It fell to the then Bishop Cassisa, who had taken over the diocese in 1977, to oversee the launch of restoration work two years later.
More than £4 million has since been spent and, as everyone on Sicily knows, wherever there is big money, there - sooner or later - will be a mafioso asking for the local "family" to be cut in.
According to the anonymous informant who sparked the investigation, several firms hired to work on the cathedral were siphoning funds back to Cosa Nostra. Three allegedly handed over money to the archbishop in return for contracts.
In September 1993, a Monreale priest publicly backed the allegations, claiming the kickbacks totalled £280,000. The archbishop, in a rare comment, described the accusation as "fantastic" and temporarily relieved the priest of his duties.
A judge who had to decide on, the investigators' findings ruled last April that the archbishop should be tried on only one count of extortion, involving an alleged £1,600.
More serious, at least in terms of money, is the other charge he approved.
This charge alleges Dr Cassisa cheated the EU out of £300,000 by exploiting policies designed to reduce surplus agricultural production. It is claimed his diocese submitted a claim for church-owned vineyards which overstated the amount of land set aside.